Doctors, FDA and Drug Companies are Too Cozy, Health Policy Experts Say

Lavish trips to Hawaii and other tropical locations billed as educational seminars, free pens and coffee mugs, and other “free” perks should be strictly off-limits between drug companies, physicians, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a panel of health policy experts says.

Such common tactics have cast a dark cloud of suspicion over the integrity of the drug-approvals process and the treatment of patients while raising serious questions about the way drugs are evaluated and approved, the experts said in a series of commentaries published in the British Medical Journal.

The mere appearance of impropriety in the review and approvals of new drugs and the prescribing of drugs to patients has so severely eroded public confidence in the process that large strides are needed to cure the problem, according to the experts.

Continuing Education or Luxury Vacations?

Some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies are known for whisking physicians away to golf trips, Caribbean resorts, and other exotic locations for expensive trips that are sold as continuing education seminars. At the seminars, physicians are pitched on the company’s newest products and briefed on new products that are still under development. Some physicians are paid to be guest speakers at the seminars, while others are brought in to learn more about drugs, medical devices, and other products promoted by the drug company hosting the event.

These trips, also called junkets, are fully paid-for by the drug companies and have come under fire in recent years as improper tactics. By hosting physicians at expensive resorts and paying for rounds of golf, spa treatments, and other luxuries, drug companies are attempting to unfairly garner favor and banking on the fact that the physicians will prescribe the company’s drugs instead over those of a competitor, according to the medical ethics experts.

Even when a competitor’s drug may be a better treatment option for a particular patient, the physician, feeling indebted to the company that hosted the junket, may put his or her own financial interests before those of the patient.

Scaling Back Junkets Sends a Better Message

By downsizing junkets and hosting continuing education seminars at local schools or other low-profile locations instead of five-star resorts, drug companies and physicians could do a better job of demonstrating that the two are operating above the table and putting the interests of patients first, the experts said.

Also, physicians should pay their own way for continuing legal education courses instead of taking handouts from drug companies and medical industry professional organizations should bear the costs of putting on their own meetings and releasing their publications instead of sending the bills to the drug industry. In short, there should be a wall built between doctors, the FDA, and the drug companies to avoid even the appearance of back-room dealings and pay-offs.

By keeping the FDA and drug companies at an arm’s length distance, patients would feel more confident believing that decisions about their health are being made with their best interests in mind, not those of a drug company, the FDA, or their doctor.

Some Drug Companies Have Changed Their Ways

In 2008, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a drug industry group based in Washington, D.C., released new, voluntary guidelines for the handling of physician perks. Some drug companies took notice and revised their policies on trips and other gifts given to doctors, but many continue to offer the same incentives to doctors who promote the company’s drugs and products to their patients.

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